Braves' system earns top grade from ESPN's Law

Buoyed by a handful of opportunistic trades and some improved drafting of late, the Atlanta Braves' farm system was hailed as baseball's best ahead of the 2016 campaign by ESPN's Keith Law, who released his annual rankings Wednesday.

The recent additions of Dansby Swanson - the Vanderbilt product taken first overall in last year's draft - and left-hander Sean Newcomb turned Atlanta's already strong farm system into the best in baseball.

Strong drafting in 2015 should yield dividends for the Braves, too - Kolby Allard and Mike Soroka project as mid-rotation starters - but by exploiting the aggressiveness of two potential contenders (the Diamondbacks and Angels), the Braves assembled the strongest collection of minor-league talent in the league without getting rid of Freddie Freeman or Julio Teheran.

Rounding out Law’s top three minor-league systems were the Los Angeles Dodgers, led by shortstop Corey Seager and left-hander Julio Urias, and the Minnesota Twins.

Law’s complete rankings can be accessed at ESPN Insider.